Some portable devises need to be setup or initialized before they can start to function. For example, a fingerprint secured FLASH disk asks users to register their fingerprints information to the device before the security functions take effect. Since the fingerprint secured FLASH disk has no user interface for user interaction, it must have the help from a host, e.g., a computer. Usually, software is required to be installed or executed on the host so that the related initialization processes can be done.
If a computer is used to run the software, there is a problem for the manufacturer of the fingerprint secured FLASH disk. For each supported Operating systems (OS), the manufacturer has to provide corresponding version of software. This is an excessive cost.
There is a commonly used method to settle the problem mentioned above. Instead of software that must be installed and executed on the host, an HTML file is delivered to a web browser on the host so that it can interact with users and lead them to an on-line webpage for further set-ups or locally finish the same initialization process. However, for some portable devices, running such HTML file(s) in the web browser to interact with the attached device may be blocked off by the OS's security system. For example, if a HTML file provided by the fingerprint FLASHFLASH disk asks to write information to the FLASH disk when it is linked to the computer, the host's security system may pop up a warning message to alert the user that there is a potential security risk since the default settings of the browser security feature denies any attempt of data writing to local file system. It is obvious that the fingerprint FLASH disk is deemed as a local storage device to the computer. Most people don't understand how the security system works and think there is a security threat from the fingerprint FLASH disk. It will bring a lot of telephone inquiries, or even call-backs.
Therefore, here comes a demand that how to setup or initialize a portable device which is linked to a host without being challenged by the security system. The U.S. Pat. No. 7,676,675 gives us a teaching. By thinking the portable device as a remote client who wants to access a local desktop, '675 have processes to implement the demand. However, '675 requires an additional listening socket to be set up in both sides. It may not be acceptable for the user who bought the portable device.
The inventor came out an accurate but simple read-only method and a system using the method to operate the portable devices. The system is across both the device side and host side so that available elements in the host side can be utilized without new elements installed. The above mentioned demand can be fulfilled.